Introduction
I’ve always loved the F-4 Phantom.
There is a well-known F-4 Phantom wreck in the Torrey Pines area of San Diego (actually, very close the P-38) that is about 150 feet deep. I’ve dove it a couple times and it is usually dark and limited visibility. For my upcoming book, I had gone further up north to build a photogrammetry model of the P-38 we found and identified off Solana Beach. Since we had such good conditions, we decided to see if I could build a model of the F-4. There is a small chance that I will feature the F4 in the book.
We ended up diving the main part of the wreck (there is another section that is a bit of swim to get to) and I built a pretty good model for the archives and in case I end up writing further about it.
I wanted to post it here so others could reference it and use it.
The Dive
The dive was relatively easy with no current and good visibility. I shot photos of the main wreck while Matt looked around and then went to go find the other debris field. The biggest complexity was the waving material on the port side of the airplane that messes with photogrammetry.
The wreck was littered with fish. Below are two video clips (I had a GoPro running on top of my camera housing).
The first shows how good the visibility was and how expertly Lora & Chris @ Marissa Charters can place a downline. It was the perfect distance of about 10 feet away so that the wreck is easy to find and also minimizes chances of causing damage. You can barely see the downline and grappling hook at the very beginning off to the left.
The second video shows me taking photos from the nose area past the cockpit debris area to the intake fans and across the main part of the body to the tail area.
The Photogrammetry Model
There are about 600 photos in the model. One thing that I noticed looking at the model is the port side wing structure which I had never noticed before. The twin exhaust areas are very evident and iconic for the Phantom.
I’ve included a top-down view below along with some additional screen captures.
Below is an overlay with a blueprint view so you can visualize where in the airplane structure the wreck is:
Some additional screen captures from the model are below:
“Live” Model on Sketchfab
Below is a link to the 3D model on Sketchfab.
You mentioned the wavy material messing with your photogrammetry model, but what about the fish? Seems like there were an awful lot of fish.
Hi Dick,
Yes, bio-interference is a real thing. I can normally get the photos to align since the software will use static points, but I do believe that it results in some parts of models that are “blurry” and not as crisp.
– brett